Evolution
Carmichaeila muritai in cultivation in Hants. This plant first flowered in 2009 at about 15 years old
Until 1985, when this species was described, the genus Chordospartium was considered monotypic, and was one of 5 genera making up an Australasian tribe called the Carmichaelieae.
Other than the now extinct Streblorrhiza speciosa from Phillip Island and a single species of Carmichaelia from Lord Howe Island, this tribe was endemic to New Zealand.
Chordospartium was initially thought to have originated through hybridisation between the closely related genera Notospartium (Slade, 1953), which it resembles in habit, and the much smaller Corallospartium which it resembles in colouration and in its grooved branches. However, hybrids between these genera do not seem to occur naturally, but have been created in gardens.
The tree-like plants previously segregated as the genera Chordospartium and Notospartium mainly occur among tall shrubs and on forest margins in riparian habitats in Marlborough, whereas the dwarf species which previously made up the genus Carmichaelia occur with herbs and other dwarf shrubs in the dry eastern mountains on or around the margins of rocky outcrops, and on river terraces, outwash fans, and glacial moraines (Heenan, 1998a). The habitat of C. muritai is somewhat intermediate.
